A Star May Soon Explode, And We'll All Get To Watch

It could be one of the biggest astronomical events in years ― a star explosion so intense it could literally change the night sky.

Astronomers are predicting that binary star system KIC 9832227, located in the Cygnus constellation, will merge and explode in a “red nova” event in 2022.

And if it happens as predicted, its brightness will increase by 10,000-fold, making it one of the brightest objects in the night sky and easily visible with the naked eye, according to a Calvin College news release.

Molnar and his students have been observing KIC 9832227 for several years now, along with fellow astronomers Karen Kinemuchi from Apache Point Observatory and Henry Kobulnicky from University of Wyoming.

His research assistant, Daniel Van Noord, found that the two stars in the system shared an atmosphere, “like two peanuts sharing a single shell,” Molnar said.

But when Van Noord calculated their orbital period, he found it had changed.

That shift was similar to what astronomer Romuald Tylenda had seen before V1309 Scorpii unexpectedly exploded in 2008, the school said.

That means history could be about to repeat itself.

If their calculations are correct, the explosion would be about as bright as Polaris, the North Star, according to National Geographic.

“The project is significant not only because of the scientific results, but also because it is likely to capture the imagination of people on the street,” said Matt Walhout, dean for research and scholarship at Calvin College, in a statement. “If the prediction is correct, then for the first time in history, parents will be able to point to a dark spot in the sky and say, ‘Watch, kids, there’s a star hiding in there, but soon it’s going to light up.’”

In July, NASA said that its Hubble Space Telescope <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-pluto-moon-hubble-space-telescope_n_904578" target="_hplink">discovered an eight to 21-mile-wide moon</a> circling the dwarf planet.